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It’s Nothing, Just the Neighborhood Anarchists

Here’s the gun swinging in the early morning breeze about a week before the anarchist house eviction

There’s a house two blocks from mine. It’s always covered in political graffiti, with banners saying “no TAV.” TAV is the Italian acronym for high-speed trains (Treno ad Alta Velocità), and the reason for protesting the fast trains is mostly their ultra-high cost. The whole railway infrastructure has had to be rebuilt in order to accommodate the high-speed trains. And guess who bears the burden? Then Italian taxpayers (who already among the highest income tax rates in the world). In addition, the ticket price for all the trains has gone up. The high-speed trains are exorbitant, having quadrupled ticket prices between popular destinations.

The environmental and health impact of the high-speed trains is something that has never been adequately explored in the rush to get the trains up and running.

About two weeks ago, the Lord told me to get out and take a walk in the neighborhood. The Holy Spirit led me right to walk right in front of that house, then instructed me to stop and turn around. When I did, I saw a pistol hanging from a fishing pole attached to the wall of the anarchist house.

Anarchist house with graffiti

A week later, as I was entering my local coffee shop, I noticed Carabinieri (Italian Military Police—at least two dozen of them—in front of the coffee shop, many of them were looking down the street toward the anarchist house. They had two police vans blocking the street in front of the coffee shop. There were several more police officers in the coffee shop, too. When I asked what was going on, I was given a generic reassurance: “We’ve got everything under control.” So I asked the cashier of the coffee shop.

Anarchist house eviction from a couple of angles

I figured that it was another protest because there is an animal research lab just a block away from the anarchist house, and there are frequently protests in front of the lab, but nothing of a violent nature (mostly people carrying signs, blowing whistles, and chanting). I don’t know for sure that the anarchists of the graffiti house were involved in the animal rights protests, but it wouldn’t surprise me.

other views of the eviction

But she said that the anarchists had been squatting illegally in the house, and were being evicted. Indeed, when I left the coffee shop I saw a white couch sitting in the middle of the street, and a rented moving truck parked nearby. I also saw another two dozen or so finance cops at the other end of the street, with two of their vans blocking that end of the street.

When I saw my building’s custodian, she said that the mayor’s son was among the anarchists. She said that the mayor had given them permission to live in the house, even though he didn’t have the right to give that permission. Things apparently came to a head when several nights in a row there were loud parties lasting until four in the morning. Neighbors complained to police, and the police came in force to evict the squatting anarchists.

The Finance Police get involved, too

Later, as I passed on a bus, I saw smoke coming from the house: regular gray smoke and also a strange green smoke. I don’t know if they were burning documents or drugs or what, but that green smoke did not look normal.

Anyway, so it was no big deal, just the local anarchists getting evicted. You just never know what’s going to be going on in the neighborhood.